NWE Help: Remote: Ftp: Command Line FTP: Intro

NWE Home :: Help :: Remote :: FTP :: Command Line FTP

FTP is one of the oldest protocols on the Internet, so it also somewhat arcane. It is also not necessarily very secure, since be default it is a cleartext protocol. This means that ftp does not encrypt communication for security and privacy, like SSH. You can use ssh tunnelling to get around this problem, however, and we encourage you to do so.

To start an ftp session from a local xterm shell (available from the NWE menu) type:

     ftp machine.organization.domain

where machine.organization.domain is some machine you want to log into and transfer files to or from. You will be prompted for a username and password. If you are getting files from a public archive, you can usually use the username anonymous and your email address as the password. This is referred to as "anonymous FTP".

If you have an account on another system, such as CIRCA's Grove, you should use your account on that system to log in. This will put you in your directory on that system, which is probably where you want to put the files. To move files back and forth between systems there are a few basic commands:

`ls`	shows the files in the other system
`!ls`	shows the files in local directory
`cd directory`	change to another directory on the other system
`lcd directory`	change to another directory locally
`put file`	transfers a file from local directory into the other system
`get file`	transfers a file from the other system into local directory
`mput file1 file2`	transfers multiple files into the other system
`mget file1 file2`	transfers multiple files into local system
`bye`	quit the FTP session
Both `mput` and `mget` will ask (prompt) you if you want to transfer each of the files. You can turn this feature on and off by typing `prompt` on a line by itself.